To End A War
by Shibo-JiNoKuro
Summary: Ledo is finally settling down in Gargantia, he has found his place, can speak fluently with others, and learning what his emotions are. He finally knows what happiness is, can he share Earth's ways of peace before the war ends up destroying both the Alliance and the Hideauze.
1. Chapter 1

A/N:

I had just finished binge watching this show a few weeks ago and I found extremely sad that there is so little stories on fanfiction for it. I'm hoping that this changes since I enjoyed the show so much.

This will take place after the series and not the OVA's because only the first OVA has been translated. If they finish subbing the second by the time I'm still writing this, I will try to incorporate it in with what I have.

I will try to update as quickly as I can but right now programming has the biggest dominance over my life

Sorry in advance for spelling and grammar mistakes

/

Ledo waved in farewell to Bellows as he left work for the day. He made decent finds just like any other day in hopes that what he found would benefit the society. It had already been months after the battle with Striker and he was now comfortable with his new way of life, though half the time it was still hard to not have his previous soldier mentality. Not that he ever wanted to go back to the way things were before coming here and learning the truth, but it was hard to drastically change who you were when you spent your whole life having a soldier's mentality. This mentality mostly affected him by constantly wanting to work, he felt the need to give himself an objective to drive him. As long as he kept that objective in mind he felt like he could fit into this world. This was better than being on stand-by constantly, not that he had the option anymore since he no longer had an A.I. to work with him.

He missed his A.I., for the longest time it was like Chamber his best and only friend, though at the time in the military he didn't really know what friends were. He knew he cared for other humans lives because the objective was to save the human race and he would do anything to save another human. Unless he was told to do otherwise, that is. He could still remember the two soldiers Kugal ordered to abandon on the battlefield right before he came to Gargantia. In the alliance, friendship was seen as inefficient since the mental attachment could prove hindering towards the mission. If he were to have personally known those two soldiers that died, he would probably in a worse mental state from grief or had been influenced to disobey his commanding officer to save them only to die himself.

After learning what friendship was an Gargantia, it seemed logical that Chamber would have been considered his best friend. Chamber showed human-like qualities to him and was literally with Ledo everywhere. The A.I. was supposed to know Ledo better than anyone else and it was true that he did. Unfortunately it was only true to an extent since Chamber computed happiness with having a healthy body and stable brain waves. That kind of happiness didn't relate to the happiness he learned of on Gargantia.

It was confusing at times for Ledo to think of his A.I. as a pseudo-human or just plain technology when there were moments where it would seem that Chamber would make decisions like how a caring person would look after the one person who mattered most to them. Chamber's job was to protect Ledo and assure that he reached happiness, in the end he fulfilled his duty. Despite Chamber's motives coinciding with his duties, the last moment they shared seemed more like free will than programming. After spending a long while to decide what these emotions he felt were, Ledo came to the conclusion that he will remember Chamber as a friend and not just his protector. This was why he still carried the handheld he would use to communicate with Chamber wherever he went.

The device no longer does anything no matter how many times Ledo had tried to mess with it. The familiar glow it had when Chamber talked was long since gone. He certainly didn't need it to translate for him anymore, he was now proficient in the language of Earth. Carrying the device was more for comfort than necessity due to its uselessness. At first when he started carrying the handheld Ledo would mull over the fact that there was no logical reason why he should do so. If there was no purpose to the item, then he should not want it. The item was broken therefore should be thrown away. These thoughts went along with what he knew back in the Alliance, but since he there was no way back there would be no harm in doing something that didn't make any real sense, right? The only person he ever told about carrying the handheld item was Amy. She smiled like she always did and said that it was great for him to keep a piece of Chamber with him. To her, Ledo showing an attachment to an object was normal and it was a good thing for him to understand more about his feelings.

One of Amy's recent goals was to get Ledo to show more emotions than his stoic military gaze. It's true that he had come a long way from when he first arrived but apparently that was not good enough. She kept telling him that she will make him laugh one way or another. Laughter. Ledo didn't really know how to think about it. He saw others laugh, he understood why they did, but he never got the impulse to do so himself. He would smile on a regular basis now and enjoy himself, he especially felt joy or amazement when watching Amy dance. But laughter was not something that had come to him yet. To Ledo, he has never felt so happy or as free in his life until now, and just those feelings were enough.

He made his way to the usual meeting spot where soon Amy would be rushing up to him. Sure enough a few minutes later, he could see her bounding through the maze of ships in her usual fast pace.

"Sorry I'm late!" She was barely panting as she approached. Grace, the flying squirrel, chittered happily upon seeing Leto's small companion. The two squirrels began scuttling across the desk and rolling around.

"You are fine. I got off a little early, otherwise I would have been here at this time too." Really he didn't mind how long he would have to wait as long as he would get to see her.

"Come on! There's a new restaurant opening up today, I can't wait to try it." Ledo lightly smiled at her enthusiasm as she took a hold of his hand to rush them to their next location. He found himself in this position often, where to an outsider it would look like she's dragging him, but he really didn't mind.

Shortly they arrived at the new restaurant, it was on a new ship that had joined their fleet the day before. Lately Gargantia seemed to be getting bigger and bigger to where they need to acquire more space and metal to accommodate an expanding population. Being the opening day of the restaurant, the place was completely packed. Ledo and Amy were fortunate to get here before the larger dinner crowd settled in after work so they managed to get one of the last few tables available.

The food here was delicious, one of the trades from this new ship were the spices they made. The new seasonings introduced made an exotice taste to him which Ledo was grateful for. He couldn't imagine why he was so reluctant to try more than just seaweed bread before. Once he got over the fact that he was eating a corpse, Ledo was willing to try almost anything. Remembering that conversation with Amy before the festival, he smiled briefly to her to show he liked the food, she smiled back.

Halfway through the meal a group of three men walked up to their table. A tall man with black hair was in the lead and bent slightly down to Amy. He looked to be only slightly older than Ledo himself. The man flashed a smile at Amy, "I thought I recognized you, you're that beautiful bellydancer. I would love to buy you a drink, what do ya say?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm fine here," Amy smiled back at him trying to be polite.

The man turned his head to glance at Ledo sitting across from Amy. He huffed rolling his eyes, "You don't have to feel like you need to be polite to this loser. I'm sure he'll understand."

He grabbed her wrist to pull her out of the chair. Amy gasped not expecting to be propelled out of her seat only to end up trapped with the man's arm around her.

"Excuse me, I believe she said she was fine where she was at."

"What the? Hey I know you too, you're that alien kid. What would you know about anything she would and wouldn't want?"

"She declined your offer," Ledo stood from his seat, "release her."

"You think you're so high and mighty don't ya?"

"That is an irrational conclusion, I'm saying she doesn't want to be with you. Let her go."

"And what are you going to do if I don't? Now that your robo-sidekick is gone you're probably defenseless. I saw you being useless your first few weeks here, you really can't do anything by yourself, people just hire you out of pity."

"Ledo, don't listen to him!"

"Quiet you!" The man tightened grip around her, Ledo could see her skin becoming red in irritation from the man's harsh touch. Ledo was about done with this man. He insulted him for being useless, talked ill of Chamber and was assaulting Amy. Of all things, assaulting Amy was something he would not take lightly or forgive.

"I demand you release her," before coming to Gargantia, Ledo would have probably already attacked by now. But he wanted to give the man one last opportunity in hope to avoid conflict or trouble.

"Will you two take care of him for me, I'm going to escort this lady out," the man told his comrades who were sneering beside him the whole time. They nodded in obedience then began rush towards Ledo. The leader began to walk away from the progressing fight with a squirming Amy trying to get out of his grasp.

Ledo stayed on the defense, quickly blocked the initial attacks of the men. They positioned themselves on either side of him, blocking the way to Amy and to escape, not that the later was really a needed option for him anyway. The one blocking him from Amy tried to come at him again, but Ledo simply grabbed the fist that was aimed for his head. He twisted the fist with one hand, ducking under the first wing-man's arm to face his back. The move was simply to start to get him off balance, Ledo didn't want to seriously hurt these men but needed to effectively get them out of the way. He slammed his opponent into his partner, thrusting them both into a neighboring table. The contents of the table fell upon the men, knocking one of them out.

Ledo ran after Amy and her captor, taking his gun out from where he concealed it. Most days he told himself that he would no longer need the weapon unless there was an attack from another ship, but old habits die hard and he was glad for it at the moment. Making sure that no civilians were in the way, Ledo aimed and fired the gun to graze the side of Amy's captor. The rest of the laser hit the wall, slightly melting a small spot. Paying for damages was better than hitting a person. He was grateful the room had remained still once everyone realized a fight broke loose. His goal was to threaten the man, not cause unneeded bloodshed.

Shocked at the sudden pain the man turned around to see Ledo in a stance to fire a second time, aimed towards the chest. Needing leverage the man positioned his captive in front of him, "you aren't going to shoot me now are ya? Not with your precious girl in front of me."

"I don't miss."

"Are you kidding me? You barely scratched me with that last shot!"

"As I said before, I don't miss."

Suddenly Ledo felt a blow to the head, whatever hit him had shattered and scratched his scalp. Grasping his head, he turned to see the conscious wingman holding the remnants of a bottle in his hand. Ledo moved before anyone in the room could process. A punch to the face with a sickening cracking sound as the nose was shattered. A knee to the stomach, causing the man to double over. An elbow to back, bringing the man to his knees. Ledo pushed his opponent's head to the side, sprawling him on the ground.

Ledo spun on his heel, back to Amy's captor, he was holding a broken-off leg of a chair, getting ready to strike Ledo. Amy was abandoned, the man only thinking of finishing the fight. Ledo held his gun a foot from the man's chest, freezing him in his steps.

"Drop it." Seeing that he was out of options, the man complied. Ledo decided to smirk to show confidence, something he often saw Pinion do. "Don't forget that I was a soldier, my body was trained for combat before I could pilot Chamber. I was going easy on you so I wouldn't kill you."

"Ledo!" Amy rushed over to him, capturing him in a hug out of concern. Ledo wrapped one arm around her, the other still pointed at his opponent. "Oh, Ledo, you're bleeding!"

Now that he thought about it, he could feel the blood dripping from the glass shattering on his head. The wound was probably small, but scalp wounds had a tendency to bleed more. He barely felt any pain at all, probably out of adrenaline. "I'm fine."

"No you're not, otherwise you wouldn't be bleeding. We're going to my place to make sure you don't have a concussion."

Ledo looked into her eyes, there was no arguing.

"Alright. Waitress," Ledo slightly glanced away to a woman who was tentatively watching the fight, "would you please pack our orders to go?"

After his request was fulfilled, the two slowly made their way to Amy's apartment. She held his hand and glanced at him with a worried look. Once there she forced Ledo to sit on her bed while she got supplies to treat his injury. Bevel was already asleep so they were sure to make as little noise as possible.

"I always get so worried when you go off and fight, there hasn't been a reason for you to fight in so long I almost forgot how nerve wracking it is, " Amy said while gently wrapping Ledo's head. "But, thank you for protecting me."

Ledo instantly felt guilty for making her feel like that, this wasn't the first time she had expressed those thoughts. It even worried her when he went out on long excursions, particularly after he would tell her of something dangerous that happened on the previous search. "No problem, I'm sorry I worried you. I just couldn't stand the way he was holding you, I guess I was… ."

"You were…."

"Jealous."

"Jealous?"

"I believe that's correct term for it."

"Why were you jealous?" Amy tilted her head, intently listening for the answer.

Suddenly Ledo was nervous, he couldn't exactly tell why so he suppressed any expression on his face. "He took you away."

"Ledo…" Amy was hesitant with what she was about to say, he could tell she was nervous too. What was going on? "Ledo, do you… like me?"

"Yes," of course he liked her, she was the closest person to him on Gargantia, why wouldn't he like her? He felt like he was misinterpreting the question. He already came to terms that he was in love with her, but that was not the question she just asked. Either way the answer would still be the same he supposed, so there was no need to elaborate. Especially when she radiated such a brilliant smile on her face from the answer. Before he knew it a pair of lips were on his, what was this? He was too shocked and too confused to move.

After a few seconds Amy pulled away confused by the shock on his face, "I-I thought you said you liked me. Why didn't you kiss me back?"

"Kiss?" Amy's face was turning red with embarrassment, he didn't know what this was, did he? How could she be this stupid? She turned to leave the room, not wanting to embarrass herself further when a hand grabbed her wrist.

"No." Ledo stood and closed the distance between them. He relied on his instinct to guide him to cup the side of her face in his hand, pulling her in to replicate the gesture she just showed him. This was definitely a new experience for him, one that he quite enjoyed. He was aware back in the Alliance he was of age to reproduce and was told that it was something that would feel good to him, but he never quite understood why he should care so much about being with a woman. Now that he actually knew what love was, how an attachment to another person was, this small gesture of affection they shared was one of the best sensations he's ever had.

The kiss was slow, he concentrated on matching her movements in hopes that she was enjoying this as much as he was. The movements were odd to him but yet somehow familiar, this really wasn't a moment that he wanted to end. When they finally broke apart they both had a faint blush on their cheeks and smiled widely. Ledo was sure this was the first time he felt his cheeks flush, he interpreted the warmth as him being exhilarated rather than embarrassed.

The rest of the night talking about events going around Gargantia and finishing the half-eaten meal from earlier. Amy was relieved that the kiss didn't make anything awkward, however, she was more ecstatic that he felt the same way that she felt towards him.

...

Ledo was the first one to wake up in the morning. He felt comfortable, more so than usual, with his arm wrapped around something in front of him. He moved further into the covers and pillows that smelled just like Amy. Something tickled his nose as he breathed in, it felt an awful lot like hair. He cracked an eye open to the sight of the back of Amy's head. If there was ever an encouragement to never get out bed then this was it.

"Hello? Amy! Did you forget we had the day off today? You were supposed to meet us." He heard the sound of Melty's voice trail faintly through the closed door. Honestly, he hoped they would just give up and come back later, but he wouldn't have such luck. He heard the door open to Amy's room so he pretended to still be asleep. Maybe if they saw him and Amy still asleep they would not want to disturb them and go away. He was answered by a high-pitched squealing coming from both girls and Melty also saying something along the lines asking why Amy always got the 'hotties.' Amy jolted awake out of his arms much to his disappointment. Figuring there was no point in faking his slumber anymore he slowly opened his eyes to look at the scene before him.

"I-It's not what you think!" Amy looked frantic waving her hands at her friends while they just smirked at her. Ledo didn't really know what there was to be so nervous about. He wasn't ignorant that most would assume when two people in the same bed had sex, but even if they did, why be so nervous about it? Before he came to Gargantia he turned 16, this meant that he could visit Avalon for a month and participate in activities which included being intimate. Most soldiers his age took advantage of that opportunity and having sex in general was just a way to expand the human race. There were no families so even if you ended up having a child, you would never see them. If anything, Ledo was slightly hurt by the fact that it seems that Amy would be embarrassed by being seen with him.

Regardless he might as well get up now since there were no chances of him going back to sleep. Amy was still explaining the situation to her friends with anxiety written all over her face. The bandages that were placed on his head by an insistent Amy were becoming annoying and were placed in the trash as he exited the room. He was greeted in slight surprise by Bevel in the kitchen eating his breakfast. Ledo momentarily wondered if it was awkward for the young boy to know that his sister had a man sleeping over. If Amy's friends were making a big deal about it, chances are that Bevel could have the same thought process, despite not showing it at the moment.

"There's going to be no wind for the next few days, ready for a nice break from work?"

"I guess, though I'm pretty sure that I, along with the rest of Bellows' crew, still have to do some maintenance around the ships. Last time we even did some scavenging, maybe this time we might find a ship that would be undamaged enough to surface."

"I hope you get the day off, that way we can hang out if Pinion decides to throw another barbecue!" Bevel enjoyed it when he everyone was out of work. He didn't have much interaction with others most days, though that was slowly changing as he got older by sometimes being something similar to a civil engineer thanks to Dr Oldham's recommendation.

"Just as long as I don't have to go get that sauce again I don't care. But I admit it would be nice to relax with everyone," though at the moment he was mostly thinking of relaxing with Amy.

"You didn't like it?"

"No, I liked it, I just don't want to go back to that alley," Ledo shuddered at the memory. The three girls finally came out of Amy's room, Saaya and Melty were still smiling widely but Amy's face was back to it's normal shade.

"Maybe we can try to teach you how to swim again," said Amy sounding more cheerful today.

"You tried to teach me before?" Ledo tried his hardest to remember the events of the party they had. Swimming didn't really come to mind.

"Don't you remember kicking your legs in the water?"

"I would hardly call that swimming, I didn't really know what I was doing at the time."

Amy giggled at the memory, "Well, maybe this time you'll actually feel like you're swimming." She could have sworn she heard Saaya mention something under her breath about only wanting to swim to see Ledo's body again, but chose to ignore it.

"Awe, you two are so cute together, it's about time something happened between you two." Amy's blush returned at Melty's comment. "But swimming is a good idea! Ledo do you need help changing again?"

He instantly got up out of the seat, almost like he was about to run away, "No, I'm capable of doing that on my own." The girls giggled at his reaction. "But first I'm going to see Bellows to make sure I don't have any work to do. If I don't I'll meet you at Pinion's spot."

After Ledo closed the door on his way out Melty frowned, "He's such a workaholic. Honestly, I think he's the only person on this fleet that actually wants to work all the time."

"It makes sense if you think about it," Amy interjected, "he said before that he was never given an opportunity to relax when in the military. Apparently they were granted that once they turned sixteen which for him was right before he came here."

"Oh, I get it. You mean that since he's never really had a break before, he doesn't know what to do now. Come to think of it, he did seem awfully desperate to get a job before even though Chamber had it covered." Amy nodded at Saaya.

"I guess it does make sense…. Now, I'm still not satisfied with your answer from before. Why were you and Ledo sleeping in the same bed last night?"

Amy's cheeks were inflamed again, what only made it worse this time was that her little brother was in the room. He stared at her wide-eyed with a faint blush on his face as well.

"Melty!"

…

It was unnerving how he could feel the stares at him, so much for everyone telling him to 'relax.' At this point he'd rather had Bellows assign him to a personal excavation than to have frowned and ordered him to take a day off with the others. Ledo really wished random girls would stop looking at him, even the not so random girls, like Melty.

"Hey man," Pinion wrapped an arm around his shoulders, leaning with a teasing smile, "told you those workouts would work like a charm, now the ladies are all over ya." Pinion noticed a while back that Ledo never had a 'manly' build, so he took it upon himself to take the boy under his wing and show him how to build proper muscle. Now being 18 Ledo had reached his full height so Pinion was proud of himself to train the young man into having more meat on his bones.

Though this comment was confusing to Ledo since he thought they were doing endurance training. Sure, he had to be physically fit in the military but due to his young age, the majority of the time the mechas did the most of the heavy lifting. Ledo would often find himself close to struggling until he became stronger thanks to Pinion. But this new development that his physique was making everyone look at him made sense. he remembered Chamber at one time telling him what humans naturally thought was attractive, but at that time he was the 'perfect soldier' uninterested in anything of the sort. Ever since that kiss with Amy and sleeping next to her, he could feel the need of just putting his arms around her again. However that would seem rash and would freak her out a bit so

" I really don't see how even more attention to me is a good thing." Since he was the 'space boy' there really wasn't getting around the same questions and story telling whenever a new ship would join or trade. Just because he had sort of gotten used to it, doesn't mean he has to like it.

"Right, right, you only have eyes for one don't you? Why don't you go over there and make a scene with Amy now? I'm sure it will get the other girls to stop looking at you, or make them start to glare, whichever works for you. Unless if you're trying to get Amy jealous and come to you?"

"Huh?"

"Come on, I already heard from Melty, you two had a nice night last night didn't you? Well, you're a lucky one." Ledo huffed and looked away from Pinion, ironically it was also in the direction of Amy. Can there seriously be a day where he's not the fleet?

"Oh don't be like that, come on, have a drink." Ledo sighed and followed, he really hoped that Pinion didn't mean an alcoholic drink, he hadn't quite recovered from the last time. He'd only been drunk very few times, usually it was a pleasant experience, but eventually there comes a time when everyone throws up and Ledo was ready to lay off the drunken feeling for a while because of it.

The day trailed on with a lighthearted mood. Eventually he got a chance to just sit down in the shade with Amy. She had leaned into him so he tried to inconspicuously put an arm around her shoulder but not inconspicuous enough since a few minutes later they were put on spot by everyone to turn into the running joke. Ledo cursed the fact it was common to tease others about their relationships here since it would always get Amy so worked up. After her friends stole her away from him, Ledo moved from group to group not really participating in any real conversation. Everything seemed normal, until he saw something strange.

There three shapes in the distance. If he didn't know better Ledo would say they looked a lot like some Machine Calibars, but there was no way, they were over 6582 light years away from Earth. However the closer and bigger the shapes got, the more it put him on edge. He needed to get out of here, no one would think much of it if he took a break from the barbecue. Just in case he was right, he might want to find a good spot to meet the Calibars so they didn't destroy anything or cause a panic. Really, Ledo didn't want his suspicions to be right, but if they were then the only reason why the Alliance would be here would be because of him. He didn't want to cause any distress on the fleet, much like he himself did when he first arrived here. Well, no matter what huge, humanoid A.I. robots were going to cause some sort of panic, but having them away from a crowd would be better.

Ledo moved away as discreetly as he could, though unable to avoid eye contact with Amy. He made a gesture that he was leaving and everything was fine so she went back to the conversation she was currently engaged in. Now he had to wonder where a good spot was on the ship to go to. Since most people had the day off, places that had grassy areas and were close to the water would be more packed than normal. But, if that were true, where workers were normally would probably be deserted. Where the Yunboros were held could work but he couldn't risk the Calibars destroying those machines, whether intentional or not. The docks to the fishing boats could be an ideal area, it would have open space and all the fisherman should be elsewhere. Deciding that this was the best course of action, he steered the closest one he could remember.

Still, he wasn't sure why he was taking these precautions, the likelihood of his former comrades finding him was small especially when the chance of them finding Earth was slim to none. But at the same time, Ledo remembers the power and abilities of those machines. It was like when the pirates first attacked the ship, Chamber was able to tell who was on what side and eliminate them with absolute accuracy. If Ledo was still in the Alliance's database then the Machine Calibars would definitely be able to pick him out from the crowd. They even had his DNA to confirm it if they got a hold of him.

He really hoped that this was all his imagination, the last thing he would want to do right now was go back to the military. Not after he learned that the Hideauze were actually human and he's come to enjoy life so much now. Technically, he was discharged from the military by Chamber due to his mental state, but there was no proof of that now that Chamber was gone. Even if Ledo was to try to avoid going back to the Alliance with that reasoning, they were likely to kill him on spot. Those who are not longer able to be of use to the Alliance weren't needed to live. Him having an 'unstable mind' meant that he was of no use anymore. All he could do now was wait and hope.

Not a minute later he heard the faint cries of the fleet's civilians. Ledo was getting more nervous by the second. He stared in the direction he came from, intently searching for the large objects in the sky. He could the faint tapping of running feet to find the head of Amy popping up from a flight of stairs. They shared a moment looking at each other intently, the look of concern in her eyes. A second later the wind picked up behind her in a huge gust caused by none other than three Machine Calibars passing above her.

The huge machines made their way to the open area Ledo had picked out and landed with grace. Ledo's pulse was racing, he felt fear again, fear of not knowing how this situation will play out. He couldn't help but glance away and back to Amy one more time. She was just as worried as he was but Ledo hoped she would stay where she was at the moment.

His attention was grabbed back to the matter at hand when he heard the cockpits release their tightly sealed pilots. Two looked younger than he was when he left, around the ages of 14 and 15, the last one looked in his 20's. Ledo could tell they were all privates and not officers. All had the same white-gray hair as himself with the same expression he used to have before coming to Gargantia, emotionless. These were soldiers who knew of nothing more than the war and the objective to win it. They all descended from their individual mechas, walking in line facing him.

The soldiers stopped in a salute, the oldest talking loudly in his old familiar language. The words almost seemed foreign to Ledo at first but he could understand them perfectly, "Second Lieutenant Ledo, we have received your distress call and are here to escort you back to the Alliance."


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited!

Sorry for taking so long to update, but as an excuse I was focusing on my Operating Systems class(which I got a B+ in!)

/***

Ledo didn't know what to say, he never thought something like this would ever happen. Chamber had given his hopes up long ago of ever seeing his old home again, and now, he didn't even think that he wanted to go back to it. There had to be some way that this work out in his advantage.

"That might be difficult, my Machine Caliber has been destroyed during my time on this planet." The oldest soldier looked around at the rusty ship, most likely thinking that something on here had destroyed the mecha. His face was skeptical, for obvious reasons too since all of the technology this place had was so primitive compared to the Alliance's.

"How did you find me here? Chamber said that the distress call we sent out would take over 6500 years until it got to Alliance."

"You are forgetting two things Second Lieutenant," one of the Machine Calibars said, "First is that time is relative and you have been aging faster while being on this planet, our society has been able to accomplish much in the time you were gone. After losing both you and Coronal Kugal, we have developed all Machine Calibars to have the ability to use hyperspace navigation within a single unit. Second, is that there are many bases and colonies in existence that are closer to here than the Alliance. Your message traveled to a colony that as about one light year away from here which was recently found and is now frequently checked upon. Your Machine Calibar did not know the location you were in because this colony was not updated to the database to the soldiers in your division yet."

"How did you find my exact location?"

The oldest soldier still looked at Ledo with an expressionless face as if the question he asked was obvious, "you still possess your Machine Calibar's handheld, we were able to find you do to that. Although it may be seemingly useless at the moment, it still has within it a tracker and a backup of the information your Machine Calibar stored."

Ledo thought about this for a moment, there was a backup of Chamber in this small device. He could get everything his mecha was in the past, just with a new body. This news trilled Ledo, but he was desperate not to show it in front of the soldiers. Also if they could make an image based from the information of everything the mecha knew, then that would mean the government would see that he was insubordinate by manipulating Chamber to release confidential information and that he was discharged by being mentally unstable. He needed to let himself seem as cooperative as possible so no one saw the need to search through Chamber's electronic memory.

"We would have arrived sooner to escort you back to the Alliance, however when we discovered that your location was our home planet, we had to report it to our commanding officers. It's big news to our society that we may be once again able to live on a planet. We are here to escort you back to the Alliance so you can brief the Generals on what you have learned while on this planet."

All Ledo could think about was how difficult this situation is since he can't just let the Alliance come here full force. Not when the origin of the Hideauze is here, they would annihilate them all on the spot without thinking. The Generals should already know the origin of the Hideauze anyways, that would probably make the situation worse since they will be even more less likely to listen to what he has to say. Unless…

"Amy," he turned slightly to look behind him, knowing that during the conversation she slowly made her way to the group. She was still wary of the huge machines and strange men so she kept some distance but she wanted to be there for Ledo. It would help if she was able to understand the language they were speaking, then she might be able to read the situation. The tone they were speaking in sounded so angry, but yet they all had a calm face when talking. Once hearing her name, she rushed the rest of the way to him.

Immediately she was intimidated by how much taller and daunting the soldiers looked compared to herself. Ledo seemed to pick up on this and made sure she was positioned behind him, looking to the side of his shoulder. She took in a moment to realize how much taller and stronger Ledo had gotten in the past few months, sure the other girls talked about it at the barbecue but seeing him look straight into the eyes of this stranger she could remember what he looked like when he first came to this ship.

"Ledo?" She looked up to him curious as to why he called her over to him. She had a hand on his shoulder blade and on his arm, still mostly hiding timidly from the foreign group. Then she took a closer look at the two on either side of the eldest, they looked so similar to how Ledo looked when they found him. So why was she acting so scared? This wasn't how she usually acted in these situations. Well unless if it involved ghosts that is, but this is no different than any other situation that they had been through together in the past, and she would walk beside him whatever it was.

"I have an idea," Ledo said to her as she stepped out from behind him. "I want you to come with me, back to the Alliance."

She did not see this one coming, he wanted her to leave? They were taking him away? Despite how much she wanted to stay with Ledo, she couldn't just leave her brother here. She couldn't just leave the fleet to go off into space, who knows how long that will take?

As knowing what she was already thinking, Ledo responded, "Don't worry it shouldn't take too long, and I can see if we can take Bevel too. Will you come with me?"

Judging from the result of how the last time he rushed off into danger, she knew that she would want to follow him in the end. There was nothing worse than watching him that day leave the fleet to hunt the whalesquid. And since they were possibly going to take Bevel with them, that was truly all that she needed. She nodded in confirmation. As they both turned back to the soldiers, Ledo began speaking in his native language again much to her dismay. It was practically antagonizing not to be able to understand the conversation, she trusted Ledo but who knew what these strangers were thinking.

"I request that Amy of Gargantia and her brother Bevel join us as well as ambassadors of earth."

"We inquire a reason," one of the Machine Calibars responded for the soldiers.

"I have only lived here a short term, if you are wanting to learn as much as you can about this planet, I suggest that we bring along ones that have spent their whole life here."

"Logic confirmed, they would be useful when planning the return of our society to this planet. I will arrange for a transport unit for them."

"It will take too long to just send a transmission" the oldest soldier responded to his mecha, "Private Meyer, go personally."

The soldier to his right who looked no older than 14 nodded and turned to his machine Calibar to get in. The group momentarily paused their conversation as the boy launched into space.

"Well, if we are awaiting for his return than we're going to have to show you to a place to stay in the mean time. Come, I'll show you to my apartment."

Ledo's apartment was a relatively small space with few possessions considering he had only been here for a little over a year and a half. At one point Amy talked him into getting more furniture, something about making the room more inviting for people to come over. Though it certainly didn't compare with how many things were in the other places he went.

After much insisting Amy convinced him that he should probably stay over her apartment again since there wasn't enough room for three grown men in his. Truth be told she just wanted him to sleep over again, but she wasn't going to say that out loud to him despite hoping that he was thinking the same.

After dropping the soldiers off at Ledo's place the continued back to the party they ran away from. As expected there was a huge commotion caused by the sight of something everyone thought was gone. Though this time, since it was recognized, there was no army sent after it. Actually, the people who saw Ledo and Amy leave a minute before the machines flew overhead calmed the rest of the crowd down saying that everything was being handled by them. This time since there were three of these machines instead of one, they might want to hold off on any type of rash force when they could clearly be destroyed so easily.

Ledo had to explain the situation to everyone at once and the multiple questions that rose from it. The hardest was when Saaya asked when they would be back with a tear in her eye. That he honestly didn't know but he hoped it wouldn't be long. Also considering the fact that time moved differently where he was going, it would be difficult to explain how everything would vary. If anything he would be would be gone for a year but they would only think it was a week or two.

Bellows wasn't exactly happy knowing that one of her best salvagers was going away till who knows when. But there was little she could do at this point and joked that she regretted giving him a day off.

After the party ended Ledo and Amy strolled back to her apartment to prepare for their adventure before going to sleep. Bevel accompanied them, his chair making a soft white noise as Ledo pushed him*. He was inconceivably excited about the trip. Never in his wildest dreams did Bevel ever think that he would be able to do into outer space. There was so much to learn out there, he hoped he would be able to find a library, or talk to some of the scientists out there. Maybe if he was luck he would be able to bring back a book or two to study.

Not long after they got home, Bevel was put to bed, tired from his exhausting but fun day. This left Ledo and Amy to talk the rest of the night about the trip they were about to take. Ledo could sense the anxiety coming from her, but there was also excitement. This would be something completely different than what she was used to. Most of the conversation was spent answering questions she had about the society she was walking into, some of which he didn't know since she asked about utopia that he had yet to see himself. After an hour or so they themselves got tired as well.

"Do you usually use your clothes to sleep in?" Amy questionably looked at him.

"No, but I didn't want to make you uncomfortable if I changed."

"Why would I be uncomfortable?"

"I sleep in my boxers."

"Oh," a blush creeped onto Amy's cheeks, "I guess it's not all that different from when we were swimming. It's fine."

"Really? It seems like you're intending on me sleeping next to you again, you seemed pretty embarrassed when other people found out."

"Ah, I'm sorry Ledo. I just get shy about it when talking with other people, I didn't mean it to seem like I was embarrassed to be with you."

"It's fine, as long as I know you want to be with me. I guess I can say your actions are… um, cute."

Amy's face broke out in a blush again, half the time it seems like he doesn't know what he's saying but yet he's so blunt at the same time. She could tell she was unwillingly making a shocked and confused face, but she couldn't help it.

"Yep, cute." He happily smiled down at her, the fact that he found her frazzled state enjoyable really wasn't helping her. But, she guessed that having him like another part of her was better than disliking it. She took a step forward to wrap her arms around his chest to bury her head in it.

Ledo was still not used to these kinds of actions but once again he was not complaining. If this was how she was going to react to, he guessed this could fall under compliments, then he might want to say them more often. They stayed like that for a while in silence.

"Come on, let's go to bed." Amy nodded against him then began to pull away. She mentioned briefly that she was going to check if Bevel had woken up or needed anything before stepping out of the room. Ledo took this as an opportunity to get changed, she did say that it was fine to dress in his normal sleeping apparel but if he were to change in front of her, she would probably get flustered again. That and he figured that he would probably feel uncomfortable as well if she was in here while he was changing. Though it was strange that he felt so self conscious now when before he wouldn't. Even when the tree girls attacked him to go swimming for the first time he didn't think this much about it. Somehow this new dynamic of their relationship was affecting him, but then again she always brought emotions in him that he never knew he had. So much for his only goal in life being the perfect soldier.

After his clothes were folded to the side, he climbed into the awaiting bed. A short while after, Amy closed the door behind her and did the same. It was nice to have one more night like this together before their world would be thrown into chaos again.

…

There was a loud knock at the door. Ledo seriously wished that mornings like this would stop getting interrupted, so far 2 and 0 was not a good sign. He quickly glanced at the window to get a general idea of the time. It was barely dawn. No one should be up at this time, especially since the fleet was still stopped from no wind. Seeing that Amy was still asleep he decided that he wouldn't get up to disturb her, maybe the people would just go away.

Unfortunately the knock was louder the second time, looks like he could never win. Amy shifted a bit as she woke, her obvious intentions were to answer the door. Ledo felt bad that she would have to be the one to greet someone so early in the morning when he knew that the only ones that would be here at this time would be the soldiers they met the previous day. The only other people who would visit her apartment would be Saaya, Melty and himself and neither of the two girls would ever come this early in the morning. He whispered in her ear that he would get the door and in a moment of courage he kissed her cheek while climbing over her. He could see a small smile on her sleepy face as he exited the room.

He opened the awaiting door to sure enough find the soldiers waiting for him. Only question is why.

"What brings you here this early?" now was a bad time to remember that he didn't put any other clothes on before answering the door. Not that it mattered currently since he knew that his former comrades would rarely care about such things, but anyone else stopping by from Gargantia would probably make a fuss.

"We are here to start this morning's training sir." Oh right, Ledo remembered, there was always a morning training session everyday to keep everyone's body fit. This was typically led by whomever was the highest ranked officer below a Colonel, which in this case would be himself, unless the officer was somehow unavailable or had to order the next officer below to take over. Being the lowest officer position, it was rare that he was ever in charge of this routine since there were four other ranks to take over before the responsibility fell onto him, though it had happened twice before. Funny how he hadn't even thought of his previous morning ritual in so long. He briefly wondered how far out of shape he was, or how much better he would be at it since getting help from Pinion. He would find out soon enough he guessed.

"Give me one minute." Before either man could respond he closed the door to retreat back into Amy's apartment. The clothes he brought with him weren't exactly great for working out in, but it would have to do for now. Ledo didn't really feel like doing this right now but he doubted the two Privates would take it very well if he skipped out for no reason. The better their report of him to the generals, the better his situation will be, he hoped at least.

He told Amy he had to leave for a while but he would be back later to help her prepare for her extraterrestrial journey. He assumed that the closer it got to the time to part, the more nervous she would get. It's only natural for someone to react as such when partaking in a new experience. She may be used to flying around on a glider, but that's completely different from the dangers of flying in space. Before leaving he picked up the letters he wrote the night before they went to sleep to those he didn't have time to tell he was leaving and didn't attend the party the day when he dropped the bombshell. He didn't doubt they already knew that there were visitors from where he came from here, the large robotic machines were pretty hard to miss, but this was also to tell everyone that Amy was leaving with him. Ledo figured that part of this mornings 'training' could be running around the fleet, informing a handful of people the journey he was about to take.

The two Privates didn't complain that the only thing they had to do was run the whole time. Ledo knew that usually this whole concept was meant to be harder, especially since they were given breaks every time Ledo had to stop somewhere to talk to someone like Ridget, Dr. Oldham, and Amy's boss. He figured that they were enjoying the time off from their usually strenuous activities. During their run he found out that the older Private was named Hayes and the younger was Davis.

Hayes had quite a different mentality compared to Ledo when he was in the military. Where Ledo turned himself into the perfect soldier, Hayes was relatively lazy and didn't aspire to go through the ranks of the army. He just wanted to serve his time to get out. Becoming one of the leading politicians was more appealing to him, he wanted to help shape the future of their society by making decisions rather than dying. He had more of a personality than he ever thought possible of someone from his home, being relatively outspoken and lively.

Davis was the quieter of the two which made it hard to extract any personal information from. All Ledo received was that he was trying to become an engineer that helped design the Machine Calibars after he served the minimal time in the military. Due to Davis' nature, Ledo eventually gave up on his inquiries to continue talking to Hayes.

"So, when do you expect Meyer to get back with the transport unit?" Ledo's breath was slightly ragged as he spoke to Hayes as they continued their run.

"Shouldn't be too long until he returns, the speed we have acquired has increased our productivity greatly."

"In that case we better go back to Amy's apartment so she can gather things she would need for the trip." They increased their speed for a last sprint through the winding paths through the fleet. Upon entering the room, Ledo could smell delicious food. He looked behind him to see the reactions of the members of the Alliance, unsurprisingly they were confused by the aroma.

"What is this?" Hayes looked at the contents on the table in mild disgust.

"Looks like Amy made us lunch before we leave."

"This is the food you eat here? My Machine Calibar is telling me that this is an animal's carcass."

"I thought it was appalling when I first arrived as well. After you get over the concept it's actually really good. Amy makes some of the best meals."

"What are you guys saying? You better not be insulting my cooking!" Momentarily Ledo forgot that Amy couldn't understand them, he merely laughed and assured her that they weren't. Though he didn't tell her that this kind of food was a foreign to the soldiers, she would learn soon enough of how dull the meals he was previously used to were. She was still pouting at him, not liking how she couldn't understand the conversation.

In a huff she turned back to the mean in progress. Ledo gestured for the soldiers to take a seat, meanwhile he peered from behind Amy to reach around her in hopes of stealing a bite.

"Hey! It's not done yet! You can wait like everyone else." She attempted to swat his hand away but it was already too late. His hand containing the piece of food rose above her head, she momentarily cursed at how much Ledo had grown in the past year.

Knowing that as long as Amy was struggling against him he wouldn't be able to actually eat the scrap, Ledo pulled her opposing arm down and held her against him, effectively trapping it against her side.

"You two have become a lot closer in the past few days." To Amy's dismay, her brother took this moment to come out of his room to greet their guests. Her face started to turn red, pondering a good excuse for the current proximately of her and Ledo.

Ledo on the other hand took this opportunity to drop the slice of meat into his mouth. Releasing her, he walked back to the table where Hayes was watching the interaction with interest and Davis was barely paying attention.

As Bevel was retrieving plates for the group to use, Hayes spoke to Ledo in their own language, "why does the boy not use his legs?"

"Bevel suffers from a heart condition and usually has to take it easy on his body," Ledo answered not remembering the conditions of the society he used to be a part of.

"Bevel, isn't that the other person we are supposed to be taking to the base? Why would we take a person who is useless to society?" The thought was like a slap in the face to Ledo. Part of him remembers the time when he said the same thing and instantly felt guilt. He was glad that Bevel couldn't hear them, comments like that are never good for one's self esteem despite if he says that he's un-bothered by them. This was actually one of the reasons why Ledo wanted to take Bevel with him, besides personally liking the boy and using it to encourage Amy to accompany him, Ledo wanted to introduce a new way of thinking to his former home. The more he can get the Alliance to question their way of thinking, the more he would hopefully persuade them to not harm the whalesquid when they inevitably find them.

"He is actually considered a genius on this fleet. He meets with the leaders to help with the civil structure and occasionally fight off pirates. Even though he can't move as well as others, he rises above them when it comes to knowledge. He is a most valuable asset to this society."

Hayes nodded his understanding of Ledo's response, there was momentarily relief that there was no further questioning. At that moment there were plates were set in front of them, Ledo could see the next challenge of making these men more open minded had now arrised. Before either Private could do more than open up their mouths, he said, "It is seen as rude to deny the food a host provides their guest, we are going to have to fit in with this society so we are going to have to learn and accept the concepts that they uphold."

This effectively quieted both of the men up to begrudgingly consume the food. They shortly realized their superior was right in the fact that once they got over the thought of eating an animal's corpse, the food was like nothing they have ever had before, in a good way.

Interrupting the meal was the loud noise of a large object flying overhead. There was no doubt in anyone's mind sitting at the table that Meyer had finally returned which meant their expedition to space was now to begin. Bags for the three occupants of Gargantia were retrieved hastily before the door to the apartment was shut.

A group had formed in front of the three Machine Calibars, two of which had not moved since landing on the ship, and the transportation ship to wish a safe journey to their friends and comrades. Bevel's wheelchair was folded and put into the back of the ship which was securely attached to Meyer's Calibar. After hugs from Bellows, a 'manly' handshake with Pinion, and being told by Ridget that he would be paying for the fee for having such large cargo stored on the fleet overnight when he gets back, Ledo finally hoisted himself into the cockpit of the ship next to Amy. They donned suits much like the one that Ledo had before he settled down in the fleet and bought his own clothes. He knew these suits would allow them all to sustain through the force they would experience when traveling through space.

With one last wave all four units began to rise in the sky slowly to avoid damage to the ship.

"Ledo…" he briefly looked over to Amy who was giving him a face that said she was scared of this experience but didn't want to admit it out loud.

He reached over to grab her hand reassuringly, "Everything will be fine, I've been doing this since before I can remember."

She sighed for a moment before squeezing his hand and looking forward out the window. After they were a reasonable height above the fleet, the boosters finally kicked into gear and they sprung through the atmosphere. One thing that Ledo forgot about was that with an atmosphere such as Earth, there was turbulence when traveling through it. This was personally something was expected subconsciously from having training on random planets to deal with this kind of situation, but Amy on the other hand had never experienced such rapid movements on a vehicle that her nerves had totally left her. Getting her to calm down was going to take some time, especially since he just said there was nothing to worry about.

/ *A/N dude, has anyone ever thought of how Bevel gets up all of those stairs o.O I haven't seen any type of elevator in Gargantia, or at least I don't remember.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to all of those who reviewed, favorited and followed! sorry I haven't updated in awhile, the school semester is finally over so hopefully I can post a bit throughout the break. Good news though is that I have all A's for last semester's classes! Also my Co-Op position is approved through next year so I still get to work at the same place =]

Anyways, thank you again, seeing that people have liked what I wrote brightens my day =]

/*****************************

The initial turbulence of the atmosphere is gone so now it was smooth sailing. Ledo could tell that they were moving faster than what he was even used to, but thanks to the suits they wore, you could feel no difference in your physical surroundings despite the reality of your body fighting to become warped as you approached the speed of light and the use of technology bending the space around it to induce going faster than said speed. If anything Ledo just wished Amy and Bevel would stop trying to move around, these things weren't meant to have people standing while traveling at top speed. If it weren't for the suits they all were wearing then they wouldn't even be able to travel like this.

Ledo had to get his mind off of how cute Amy's face was when excited about this. It was nice to think that she would finally get to see where he came from. He wouldn't be the only one that had to adapt to a new culture and maybe they would deepen their understanding of one another. Then again, he didn't even know what it would be like going to the Utopia. At least not as a full citizen, he had only been to certain sections of the city that was meant for the military, if anything the only place that he'd seen that is extravagant was the huge meeting hall where the generals and other leaders would give speeches and mission debriefings.

The fact that he didn't know much about the city made him feel slightly subconscious. She's going to be asking him about everything once they got there probably and he would have no idea how to answer. Of course, he would just have to explain that all he lived while here was a life of a soldier and nothing more. He only knew a few details here or there, like how when after served the required allotted amount of time, you could choose another field to work in such as technology. However, he never paid much attention to anything else in society except for the military and the mission at hand. Perhaps there was a possibility for the place to be more lively than he assumed, not everyone was like him and wanted to stay in the military their whole life.

Eventually their ship slowed, the Utopia could be seen fast approaching in the distance. His companion's' eyes opened even further, if that was possible, at the sight. Sure their fleet was huge and they should be sort of used to a city floating in the middle of nowhere, but this structure was massive and floating in nothing, rather than water.

"Ensign Ledo, when we get to the docking area, are you able to safely maneuver yourself or do you need my assistance?" A voice on the intercom broke the silence of the onlookers in their awe of the city in space.

"I can, it hasn't been that long."

"To you it hasn't but here a lot has changed, however the docks haven't changed much so you should be fine if you say you can. Good luck."

"Yeah…" Ledo unbuckled himself from his seat once the speed they were going obviously slowed down.

Bevel looked over at him curiously, "What did he say?"

"Nothing all that important. I'm just going to be landing this once we detach from Hayes. You two stay strapped in." A nod of the head was given in response. He walked to the back of the cabin, flipping switches to activate the reveal of previously hidden controls and a foldable seat coming from the floor.

The metallic noise from Hayes's detachment signaled Ledo to begin piloting the small craft. With little effort it was turned around heading for the the wall of the space complex. There were patterns on the wall of metal protruding outward and caving inward. Bevel had never seen these before but he assumed it was for a similar purpose as back home when they connected to another ship, locking each other in place. He watched Ledo in fascination, curious as to how all this technology works.

Ledo didn't miss a beat, despite being away from this place for a while the basic mechanics of how everything worked didn't change much. Then again it didn't surprise him since it would be pretty inefficient to change the user interface so drastically over time that people would have to relearn it in the amount of time he was gone. Thinking of which, he might want to ask someone on how much time has passed since he disappeared, from what was said and by seeing how far the technology had come he would think a few years at least.

"Ledo, why can't we just land on the platform and step out like how we did on Gargantia?" Amy looked at the massive wall, thinking that this whole thing was over complicated.

"Your body would swell from gases forming in your body, with a possibility of your lungs rupturing. Plus perhaps a few other things." Her face was mortified.

"Ah! but I saw Hayes and the others go through a door that just closed over there. Why didn't we go there too?"

"Machine Calibars go through a different process than normal transportation crafts. These can stay on the outside while the Machine Calibars have uses for the inside as well as outside. It's a long process to make everything safe for the pilots so it's best not to dedicate more resources than we have to towards it."

Soon enough the craft was locked into place the ship being smart enough to take care of the rest itself. The chair and control panel immediately retracted to their original places once Ledo stood up. Amy and Bevel followed suite picking up their belongings from their strapped in position to get ready to exit the ship.

Eventually there was a bell sound that echoed in the cabin along with a green light appearing over the exit to signal it was safe to leave. Ledo lead the way, opening a ramp that led them to either a familiar or entirely new world depending on the perspective.

As they stepped out there were people walking about. None of which were paying any attention to the foreign group. There were occasional glances and Amy's and Bevel's 'unusual' hair color but the thoughts appeared to be gone as soon as they came. Only one person, Hayes, kept their eyes on them while taking deliberate steps to their location. Ledo assumed that he would be showing them around the city.

"I was assigned to escort you three throughout your time here if you need it," Hayes announced as he approached the foreign group.

"Right now we do for sure. What immediate things do we need to do?" Ledo and Hayes were talking directly to each other, Hayes was essentially ignoring the other two since he knew that they wouldn't understand him anyways.

"Your sleeping quarters have already been arranged, put your bags over there and they will transported. We have about 2 hours until you need to meet with the generals, therefore we might as well get something to eat since you have made a long trip."

"Sounds good, before we go there could we stop to get these two a device to translate in case I am separated from them and they need to communicate? I gathered data during the trip from our conversations so there's at least a basis."

"Yes, good idea since they will not be allowed to attend your meeting with the generals and I would need to understand them. Come this way and I'll set them up."

Amy and Bevel were still looking at the two confused, though the former seemed more annoyed while the later was looking around the new environment in awe. Ledo picked up on Amy's irritation and said, "We're going to go get you translators now."

"Good, your friend is completely ignoring our existence, it's rude."

"Sorry, sorry. Just trying to move things along." He laced his fingers in hers so her face softened. "Once he can understand you he won't ignore you. He probably doesn't see a point if I'm just going to relay the information to you anyway."

Amy made a short humming sound next to him as they started following Hayes and his A.I. companion.

"It's fortunate that you reach the quota of time in the military before you left, Ledo. Otherwise you would have had to immediately pick up where you left off." Hayes decided to continue the conversation once the veteran caught up.

"Yes, that would probably delay everything as well. Though I wouldn't mind piloting again." Amy pouted for the same reason as before. Seeing this Ledo lifted their hands which was still intertwined and kissed the back of hers. "Though if I having a meeting with the higher-ups then it's probably possible they want to use me in a strategy for the military anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if I have a new assignment starting tomorrow."

Hayes talked to another man who looked in his 40's who gave him in return two devices. Meanwhile Ledo went over to a machine with a monitor and keyboard and started typing. He placed two metal chips onto the device, one from his pocket and another identical one he asked Hayes for.

"What are you doing?"

"I gathered data of Earth's language while we were traveling here from our conversations. The information is kept on this chip and I need to copy it to another one so Bevel's device will work as well as your does from the start instead of coming from scratch."

Hayes came back with the devices as soon as Ledo had finished. Taking them, the chips were plugging into the side. One by one Ledo split the device, putting one part in the Gargantian's ears and the other around their neck.

"How that be?" Amy's face brightened as she heard her own language through the headset. Although the grammar is off, this really worked!

"I can understand you!" As soon as she spoke the device around her neck broadcast what she said into Ledo's language.

Ledo smiled, "Good, just keep talking and after a while the translations will get better with less grammatical errors and unknown words. Just be patient."

She nodded, smiling back at him. Looking over at Hayes, "Nice to finally be able to talk to you."

"To you as well." His face still held no emotion, same as every other time she looked at it. At least now he wouldn't ignore her and she could participate in their conversations.

After double checking all the equipment was working correctly, the tour continued. Hayes talked about the society and explained what it would be like if Ledo came here instead of Gargantia after his last mission.

"The point of having time to be a citizen is to allow our people a chance to switch their job in society. When we teach our youth a mix of knowledge, some students will show to be stronger in one area rather than another. We'll take these students and have them focus on these career paths instead of waiting until they are done with the required amount of military time. According to our records Ledo was seen as gifted for piloting so he would have gone to the military regardless. That's also why he was able to gain a ranking at a young age."

Their walk gradually continued looking at a few major places of the city that were in direct route of where they were headed. Bevel was particularly interested when they passed an area where Machine Calibars were being repaired.

The place where they ate looked like a cafeteria. No one served them food, but instead they got it out of a machine. Two flattened, round solids were on their plates, one green, one tan. To drink they had water.

Once everyone got their meal they sat down at one of the long tables that filled the premises. The two Gargantians looked at the food skeptically, but after seeing their companion soldiers take a bite without flinching they followed suite. Immediately Amy had to hold back making a face.

"I guess I wasn't expecting it to be so… bland"

"All food needs is the nutrients required for survival." Really Ledo knew what she meant, trying Gargantia's food was a very pleasant surprised when trying it for the first time. When coming from that and back to the bare necessities, he was embarrassed that his home didn't seem as impressive as hers was to him.

"Still, where do you even get this? I've never seen anything like this come from an animal."

"We don't have any animals here, not in the main colony at least. We know of animals, what they were used for and know that they are worth enough to keep their existence by information in the database, but to keep them here is too much of an effort and upkeep if all we were going to use them for is food. The descendants of the small amount of animals we took in the original expedition out at some other base. As long as they are seen to have some value they will be continue to be taken care of, otherwise we have all of the DNA of each animal that existed on the Earth before our ancestors left and can easily.

"As for what this is, it's a mix of plants that we are able to grow here without the need of soil like what was used on Earth and artificial substances that contain only nutrients. Since everything in the universe is made of an element this is typically made in the chemical labs. It's faster and easier to produce than the plants."

"So everything here isn't real food?"

"In the sense of where you came from, no. But this contains virtually the same contents as what you're used to, it just didn't come from a carcase."

"I guess that explains the flavor and texture. Is this really all they give you?"

Ledo leaned back in his chair and looked off into the vastness of space through the window, "In a war you don't tend to care how you get fed as long as it keeps you alive."

Thinking about this gave him flashbacks of various situations over the years. One of them being in physical combat training as a child. At the time he didn't see the point when they were going to be pilots and never have to punch a hideauze straight on, but later he understood that a greater understanding of how his own body moves helps him understand a machine calibar since they are modeled to move the same as a human.

One day during training he had broken his arm in an exercise. Of course there was a pressure to get better as soon as possible otherwise they would deem him useless. Apparently the food they make in the lab can do much more than just sustain your life but also allow your body to heal faster. It only took him a week to fully recover and was able to move as though the break had never happened in the first place, however it took his whole will as a child to shove that putrid concoction down his throat.

"Sorry, we should have packed a little food for the trip, but trust me, the taste could be a lot worse." Amy looked at him skeptically but didn't bother to argue.

After a few moments she giggled triggering a questioning glance from her brother and Ledo.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just remember how long it took to get you to try anything else but seaweed bread when you first started living on Gargantia." Ledo smiled at the memory as well.

"I remember. In my defense it's a pretty gross concept to eat something that dead when you've never had that experience or mindset before. That's probably why I didn't enjoy the first two meals you and Bellows shared with me."

"Hmm," Bevel chimed in, "ya know, I've never thought about that kind of thing before. How it would seem to others when coming from a completely different type of diet. I guess seaweed bread would be the closest thing to this as well."

"Yeah, sorry it's not as good of an experience as what I had," Ledo looked away.

"No, no. I like that this is different, I feel like it's important to get the perspectives of places I'm not familiar with, plus this lets us understand how your life was before coming to Gargantia." Ledo smiled at the younger boy. "How is it that you get water here when the place is artificial?"

Hayes joined in the conversation, "Every so often we have a few people sent out to asteroids or other nearby planets where ice can be found and brought back."

Bevel was absorbing the information like a sponge, his dream of going to outer space had finally come true so he was determined to learn about life out here as much as possible.

"Ledo it is getting pretty late, you better start out to meet the generals now. I can take care of these two and any of the questions they might have."

"Ah, okay." Ledo didn't like the idea of leaving them here. For both not wanting to be without them and also worrying about them wandering without him.

They watched his figure slowly disappear from their sight as Ledo exited the hall. Since they were done with their meal Hayes didn't see a point wasting their time sitting around, "any ideas on what you want to learn about here first?"

Bevel's face brightened at the question, "May we see where the Machine Calibars are developed?"

"Sure, I don't know how close exactly they will let near them, but I can try as much as possible with a military pass."

The pass got them close enough to stand on the grounds where mechanics worked on the finishing touches of the machines, though there was strict line they couldn't cross. This was still enough to please Bevel immensely and with Hayes knowing one of the developers well enough to have them have a chat with the trio, his day was made. To the developers surprise, Bevel understood enough to hold a conversation about these devices despite the technology he was used to being so primitive compared to these. Also whatever he didn't know, he caught on quickly, earning the developer welcoming him back anytime he wanted.

Hayes was just as surprised as the developer on the questions this kid was asking and how knowledgeable he was, if not more. It was a genuine interest in knowledge so rarely seen in people. The expressions these people were making with their faces was so foreign to him, he didn't even know they were possible. Furthermore Hayes knew that in this society this kid wouldn't have last. His body wasn't as physically fits as what is required. Yet he could hold a conversation with one of this society's most intelligent people. At this point it didn't matter that he had never come into technology such as this before Ledo introduced him, he was learning and adapting which more important.

Maybe these people from Earth came from had a pretty good idea on how surviving works than he thought. Maybe not just surviving. What was the word that he heard Ledo say before? Living? He had never heard the term used as such a context before, it was only used to describe the state of one's body. Maybe the key to surviving was living.

/*****************************

The meeting took a lot out of Ledo's energy. Between that and the jet lag of traveling a distance in a short amount of time that he didn't think possible before, he wanted to do nothing but sleep. Keeping an eye on the apartment numbers as he steadily walked down the hall, he was surprised on how nice this place was. Granted it was still the same bare essentials as expected from this society, but it was nice to walk through a place with no rust every place you look. The hall was barren of any decorations that he would see around Gargantia but somehow seeing the nice shine of the walls made him relax in a certain familiarity.

The biggest difference between here and Gargantia was the concept of the floor moving. Standing on a structure that generated its own gravity had very little chance of the sudden tilt of the floor Ledo had become accustomed to while living on a ship. Everything here seemed too calm which was starting to put him on edge. There was no sound of the waves brushing against the side of the ship, no neighbors talking loudly, no music playing in a nearby bar. Everything was just shockingly quiet.

The sigh he let out while pressing on his room door seemed to echo down the hallway. The door lit up where his hand was placed showing it recognized him and he made it to the right room. As the door slid open to give him entrance he heard a feminine noise coming from inside the room.

"Huh?"

The door revealed a relatively small, neutral colored room. A single light source in the ceiling, a single bed, a stand to put the few items the people of this community might possess. The bare necessities as per usual with this place, even a door off to the side which Ledo could only assume that went off to the bathroom. The only thing in here that wasn't boring and usual was a familiar tanned girl facing away from the entrance, the top half of the flight suit they wore for the trip was down around her waist. Reacting to the sound of the door she moved only her head to see what had made it. Seeing Ledo made her eyes widen.

Before he knew it Ledo was being dragged down the hallway of the living complex by the wrist by Amy who was on a search for whoever took after this building. Ledo didn't have the energy to fight back at this point. He barely had any time to process what had just happened, nevertheless anything else that happened today which was causing him inner turmoil just remembering the conversation. Right now there were more important things for him to worry about than him walking in on Amy changing. How could he even begin to predict that one coming?

These doors were programmed to react when coming in contact with a specific person's DNA, but nothing said that two people's DNA couldn't be assigned to one room. With her already knowing this, there was little room for him to argue that this was only a mistake and they should just roll with it.

In his head he was hoping that she would be behind that door since he seeing her would make him relax and forget what was going on for a while. However, it obviously didn't turn out the way he expected. At this point all he wanted to do was go back to the room and fall asleep. Preferably with Amy with him, unfortunately it seems she was determined to prevent this from happening again. Even if she did, it seemed like she would be riled up for a while.

Eventually they found an employee for the building. Unfortunately for Amy his reply was, "I was told that he will be staying with you."

"Huh, why is that? Bevel was shown to his own room, and the manager said there were plenty of spaces."

"Based on the data from a Machine Calibar on you two, it seems as though when you two are around each other, your hormones increase, therefore we assumed you two are involved."

Any slightly recoiled at the statement, face beginning to be brighter by the second. The employee looked at her expression curiously as if he had never encountered this type of reaction. "Ledo, don't you have anything to say? Don't you want your own room?"

Ledo was spaced off, staring holes in a nearby wall. There was no hint that he had even heard her. After three long seconds he finally reacted turning his head towards her, "Huh? You say something?"

"Ledo! Pay attention. We're here to get separate rooms."

Ledo sighed, turning his head once again towards the wall. "Really, I don't see what the big deal is. We shared a room, nevertheless a bed, the past two days. This isn't all that different."

Amy's face was getting even brighter and Ledo didn't need to look at her to know that. He knew that this concept was embarrassing for her but this was a different place, no one knew them here. Often when teens got out of the military they would end up in their first encounter with intercourse within the first week of freedom. They never knew the others name, they rarely saw or remembered the other's face.

There were times when people would stick around with each other for a long time, or even their whole lives but that was a smaller percentage than those who didn't choose a specific partner. Despite the norm being detached from others, it's impossible to completely separate from emotions and what generally makes one human. Just how some people showed more of a personality than people such as himself when he lived here.

"That's not the point. We need different rooms for privacy." Ledo's eyes closed letting there be another pause in the conversation.

"You know, no one is getting the same idea here as they would on Gargantia."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Here, when people get together it's just seen as a way to continue on humanity, rather on Gargantia there's actually an emotional connection. I told you before that the concept of families don't exist." At this point Ledo was back in the same daze he was in before, though now he was spouting off facts but at the same time not really thinking of what he was coming out of his mouth.

"So you're saying that because you're back home I don't mean anything to you anymore?" This statement snapped Ledo out of whatever mood he was in quick.

"What? No, I didn't mean it like that!" Amy turned away from him and the employee. "I just meant that you don't have to be self conscious about sharing a room since other people won't even think about it. If anything I was justifying why this happened in the first place."

Her figure was still storming down the hall.

"Amy!"

/*****************************

Aaaand that it! Hmm, wonder why Ledo is acting so weird.

Let me know if there's any grammatical errors or anything you would want me to know. I didn't really proofread this much since I just wanted to post it already. I hope you enjoyed the thickening plot.

Sorry once again for the slow update, thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas! =]


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